Challenges in Green Retailing
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International Journal of Case Method Research & Application (2013) XXV, 3 © 2013 WACRA®. All rights reserved ISSN 1554-7752 CHALLENGES IN GREEN RETAILING Shirley D. Ezell and Marcella M. Norwood University of Houston HOUSTON, TEXAS, U.S.A. Abstract The Case for “launching a new green retail business” will provide the readers and educators with an overview of some of the striking issues facing retailers in the green retailing movement in the current marketplace. The case will provide an overview of the plastic or paper challenges as retailers struggle to become green and also convert consumers to actual practice. The Startup Case will provide an example of an innovative Green Retail paint shop and the introduction of the store, product, social media, marketing challenges that were approached to become profitable in a large metropolitan city. The lessons to be learned provide new thinking on the state of the art of green retailing and new changes being undertaken and practiced in communities as well as creative business practices for retail innovators that want to enter the marketplace and be successful. KEYWORDS : Green business, sustainability, paper or plastic bags, green paint, green retailing INTRODUCTION A compelling argument has grown globally for developing a sustainable environment. Healthy, sustainable communities operating as good stewards of the environment have become the basis for collaborative entities to examine such things as how global warming and climate change affect the environment and its effect on plants, animals, and humans as well as on the infrastructure of the world economies. The United Nations, on March 14, 2013 “stressed that the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which are being formulated by Member States must address the environmental degradation that is threatening present and future generations.” [UN News Centre] The question “What is a sustainable environment?” could become overwhelming unless it is divided and subdivided into manageable parts which then may be examined. Effectively conserving resources to create a sustainable environment creates opportunities for generating forward thinking communities and protecting plants, animals, and humans while allowing individual economies to continue to make progress. Two topics are examined in this paper: shopping bag options and green paint options. SHOPPING BAG HISTORY The earliest shopping bags were made of leather in the Middle Ages. Once paper was invented and made less expensive through mass production customers carried parcels home from the store that were tied with string. Then in 1906, Vereinigte Papierwarenfabriken in Munich, Germany, developed a paper bag called ‘Handfrei’ (hand free) which they patented. [Stromer] An open netted string bag was produced beginning in the 1920s in Czechoslovakia using artificial silk yarn and other types of yarn, including wool. International Journal of Case Method Research & Application (2013) XXV, 3 169 These bags were gradually replaced by plastic bags. [Wikipedia] These bags were popular due to the low price, lightweight, and space saving aspects. Plastic bags became a modern convenience in 1973 when a commercial system for manufacturing plastic grocery bags became functional. Later in the 1970s supermarkets began offering these bags to their customers as an alternative to the paper bag. According to the Food Marketing Institute’s Plastic Bag Backgrounder, “a paper bag requires four times more energy to produce than a plastic bag (2,511 BTUs vs. 594 BTUs) and the manufacturing process of paper bags generates 70 percent more air and 50 times more water pollutants than plastic bags.” Some people believe that plastic is more difficult to recycle than paper. The Food Marketing Institute and the American Chemistry Council report, “nearly twice as much energy is required to recycle a pound of paper than a pound of plastic.” [Morris] PAPER, PLASTIC, OR NEITHER Reuseit.com indicates there are four maJor issues the environmental impact of paper and plastic bags based on several studies: Issue 1: Energy and natural resources – based on a 2007 study by Boustead Consulting & Associates that indicates it take almost four times as much energy to manufacture a paper bag as it does to create a polyethylene bag; Issue 2: Pollution – toxic chemicals used in creating paper contributes to air pollution, such as acid rain and water pollution (however, this is duplicated by compostable plastic bags); Issue 3: Recycling – according to the Wall Street Journal 85-90% are not recycled and 94.8% of plastic bags are not recycled according to Boustead Associates); and Issue 4: Degradability – temperature, pH, the type of bacteria present and the form of paper determine degradability of both products. Cities and states are considering banning or taxing plastic bags that are found in inappropriate locations such as floating in trees, stuck in sewers, clogging water sources, and drifting around public and private properties. Wikihow has even developed an article on Environmental Awareness on “How to Pick up Litter”! The steps include buying food items with less packaging and eating less processed or manufactured food as well as stopping littering or adding to litter (yourself). According to many sources, whales, dolphins, sea turtles and other marine mammals die every year after eating discarded plastic bags they mistake for food. According to a 2004 study by the French retailer Carrefour, “A reusable bag is better for the environment regardless of what it is made from, as long as it is used at least four times. Plastic bags make up a small portion of the trash that eventually is included in landfills. According to a study in San Francisco, there are more chewing gum wrappers or cigarette butts than plastic bags in landfills, but plastic bags are highly visible and become traps for fish, birds and other wildlife. [Ball] The Irish “plastax” decreased the use of plastic grocery bags by more than 90% in Ireland according to the same article in the Wall Street Journal. The city of Austin in Texas passed a ban on retail single-use bags that was to start on March 1, 2013. This ban was advertised on radio, TV, and in print at a cost of $850,000 to inform the public. The ban includes dry-cleaning bags, newspaper delivery bags, some types of takeout food bags and bags used for fish, meat, poultry, produce, bulk goods and pharmaceuticals. [Associated Press] The Austin American- Statesman reports retailers will be allowed to offer thicker plastic and paper bags with handles, which the city considers reusable. Retailers will decide whether to charge for those bags (exemptions include dry- cleaning bags, newspaper delivery bags, some types of takeout food bags and bags used for fish, meat, poultry, produce, bulk goods and pharmaceuticals). “The Texas Retailers Association filed a lawsuit claiming Austin’s bag ban violates a section of the state health and safety code, which prohibits municipalities from restricting the bags “for solid waste management purposes.” The lawsuit cites the ordinance’s express language to back up its claim – that the “successful reduction of single-use carryout bags entering the city’s solid waste stream . will help the city achieve its goal of ‘Zero Waste’ by the year 2040.” “ [Smith, A.] 170 International Journal of Case Method Research & Application (2013) XXV, 3 REUSABLE BAGS Seemingly reusable bags are the answer to the paper versus plastic debate. Environmentalists indicate high-quality reusable shopping bags made of materials that don’t harm the environment and are not discarded after one use are the answer to this conundrum. However, even reusable bags have their downside. In Oregon, norovirus infections were traced to a reusable grocery bag that had been contaminated. [Aleccia] Health concerns are also based on bags imported from China and other countries, many of which have been found to contain dangerous levels of lead that can rub off onto food, permitting families to ingest that contaminant. “A study by the University of Arizona found that half of all reusable bags contained food-borne bacteria, like salmonella. Twelve percent contained E. coli, indicating the presence of fecal matter and other pathogens. [Gerba] These bacteria continue to exist in reusable bags unless they are “cleaned properly after each use with hot, 140-degree temperature soapy water. [Environment and Plastics Industry Council] A ban on plastic bag use in California led to an increase in E. coli infections by 40% in the three months following the adoption of that ban. [Larsen] According to this same web site, a study published in 2011 in Food Protection Trends determined that 51% of all reusable grocery bags contain coliform bacteria, indicating the presence of feces. “In addition, most people do not use separate bags for raw meat and for ready-to-eat foods, including fresh vegetables and fruit as well as that 97% f consumers said, “They never wash their reusable grocery bags.” [Larsen] Sustainable Living, from the University of Connecticut indicates that 40% of these bags have molds and yeast that can cause allergic reactions and infections. Larsen also says that reusable bags adversely affect the environment. A February 2011 report included a study by the U.K. government indicating that standard reusable cotton grocery bags must be reused 131 times “to ensure that they have lower global warming potential than” a single use of a plastic bag. [U.K. Environmental Agency] UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES OF SUSTAINABILLITY Concord, Massachusetts, became the first U.S. city to ban sales of single-serve plastic water bottles. Residents indicated that this ban deprived residents and visitors the ability to choose their beverages. Interestingly a few weeks after the vote to ban bottled water a huge water main connecting the Quabbin Reservoir to Boston blew a seal and was shut down for days cutting off water to over 30 communities. [Smart Planet] Shoplifting appears to be the result of the plastic bag ban in Seattle, Washington, according to storeowners.